Pocket cover for rectangular objects

ABSTRACT

A COVER FOR A RECTANGULAR OBJECT OF COMPRESSIBLE MATERIAL SUCH AS A MATTRESS, PILLOW OR THE LIKE IN WHICH ALL FASTENING MEANS SUCH AS BUTTONS, ZIPPERS, ETC. ARE DISPENSED, THE COVER BEING PROVIDED WITH TWO INTERFITTING POCKETS AT THE OPEN END OF THE COVER WHICH ARE DESIGNED TO FIT AROUND ONE END OF THE CORE, AND FIT ON ON TOP OF THE OTHER THEREBY CLOSING THE COVER WITHOUT THE USE OF ANY EXTRA FASTENING MEANS.

Sept. 20,- 1971 J, SMITH 3,605,143

' rocm'r covna FOR nacwmeuwz owners Filed April 23, 1969 2 Shoots-Shoot 1 Inventor IMRE J. SMITH by: v4 ML.

Sqat. 20, $971 I. SMITH rocxn'r covsa FOR nnc'rmeumn oamcw's Filed April .23. 1968 2 Sheets-Shoot 2 Inventor IMRE .1. SMITH by: yeoyeafwm.

FIG. 7

United States Patent 01 fice 3,665,143 Patented Sept. 20, 1971 3,605,143 POCKET COVER FOR RECTANGULAR OBJECTS Imre Jack Smith, 283 Hillhurst Blvd., Toronto, Ontario, Canada Filed Apr. 23, 1969, Ser. No. 818,668 Int. Cl. A47g 9/00, 7/06, 13/09 US. Cl. 335 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to means for removably covering a substantially rectangular compressible article such as a mattress or pillow.

It is frequently desirable to provide a cover for an article which will stay in position on the article but may be readily removable either to gain access to the article or to clean the cover. Articles which are displayed for sale, or articles which have been washed or laundered are examples of the first, and pillows or mattresses, particularly those used in hospitals, are an example of the second.

Various closures have been devised for this purpose. In the case of articles for sale or which have been washed or laundered, the covers may be torn to get at the enclosed article. Where it is desired to preserve the cover for further use, as in the case of a pillow or mattress cover, openings may be provided with buttons, slide fasteners, etc. These are expensive and may be broken in use or when being laundered. A pocket or pockets may be provided which may be folded over the end of the article to be enclosed, as in Canadian Letters Patent 542,873, dated July 2, 1957 to Smith and Revesz. A further example is shown in my co-pending application Ser. No. 804,785, filed Mar. 6, 1969, entitled Cover for Compressible Object.

The object of this invention is to provide means for removably covering a substantially rectangular three-dimensional compressible article which covers the article more completely and is less likely to come off during use and which may be made more cheaply with less material and stitching.

This object is attained by providing a substantially rectangular hollow open-ended envelope of substantially the same width and depth as the article intended to be covered thereby, but shorter than the length of said article, and having two pockets extending transversely of the open end of the envelope, the width of each said pocket being substantially the same as the width of the envelope and the length of the pocket plus the length of the envelope being substantially the length of the article, the pocket being rooted to the sides of the envelope over only one half of the thickness of the mattress, pillow or the like, whereby when the article is inserted in the envelope, each pocket may be folded over the end of said article to cover the end of the article and retain it in the envelope. A further feature of the invention is that such pockets are provided as endwise extensions of each side of the envelope whereby each pocket may be formed integrally with the envelope from a single piece of material.

The invention is hereafter more particularly described and illustrated by way of example in the annexed drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a mattress cover shown fitted over a mattress with a detail thereof enlarged and cut away for clarity;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view showing one end of the mattress, both pockets unfolded;

FIG. 3 is a similar view to FIG. 2 showing the one pocket folded over, the other pocket being unfolded;

FIG. 4 is a similar view to FIG. 3 showing both pockets folded over closing the cover;

FIG. 5 is a section along the line 5-'5 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a greatly enlarged cut away interior perspective view showing the detail of the corner construction of one of the closed ends of the cover shown in FIG. 1, and,

FIG. 7 is a plan view showing the cover of FIG. 1 as a blank of material prior to sewing.

According to this preferred embodiment of the invention, provision is made for a cover construction suitable for use with low priced materials. While the construction of my prior cover shown in Ser. No. 804,785 is generally found to be suitable for giving the strongest and most durable form of cover for a rectangular article and is particularly suitable for use with covering material of a substantial or unstretchable nature, there are many circumstances in which a much cheaper form of covering is to be desired formed of very much cheaper material, which may incorporate a certain degree of stretch. An example of such a case is where it is desired to provide a pillow cover or mattress cover of relatively cheap ticking or the like. Generally speaking, in order to make ticking covers at a price competitive with existing ticking covers, it is found extremely difficult to utilize the construction dis closed in Ser. No. 804,785 due to the considerable amount of hand labour and stitching required.

Accordingly, by use of the present invention a cover C may be provided consisting of top and bottom panels 10 and 11, seamed together as at 12 to form an envelope along a line which will lie along the median of the op posed sides of the mattress core M. Rectangular box corners are formed at the closed end E of the cover by means of the lines of stitching 13 lying on the inside of the cover C (see FIG. 6). In this way, edge portions of upper and lower panels 10 and 11 are formed into side portions 10a and 11a which together equal the thickness of the mattress M.

Pockets 14 and 15 are formed at the open end of the cover C which are adapted to be folded back as shown in FIG. 1 for introduction of the core M after which they are stretched around the exposed end of the core M and close the cover. The pockets 14 and 15 are formed completely by endwise extensions of upper and lower panels 10 and 11, being cut and seamed in the manner shown in FIGS. 6 and 7. Thus, as shown in FIG. 7, a rectangular notch indicated as 16 is cut in each side of both upper and lower panels 10 and 11, thereby defining box corner panels 14a and 15a. Notch 16 is formed with a depth equal to about one-half the thickness of the mattress M and a width equal to about the thickness of mattress M, suitable allowance being made for seams in known manner. The pocket 14 (for example) is then formed by first stitching the side edges of the panel 14a to the side edges of the adjacent panels a as at lines of stitching 1818a and subsequently the opposite side edges of each notch 16 (which are of a length equal to about one-half the mattress thickness) are stitched at 1919a to the inner edge of the notch 16, which being about twice the length of the side edges, thereby completes the pocket 14. The pocket is formed in the same Way. When completed it will be seen that the pockets 14 and 15 are folded along the fold lines 20 and the panels 14a and 15a are folded along fold lines 21 (see FIG. 7). In this way, each of pockets 14 and 15 are tailored to fit over the full thickness of the mattress core M while being rooted to respective upper and lower panels 10 and 11 for only one-half the thickness of mattress core M. This represents a substantial saving over previous forms of construction in which each of the pockets were rooted to the mattress cover or envelope over the full width of the padding or core.

It will be understood that this cheaper form of construction results in somewhat restricting the freedom of movement of the material forming pockets 14 and 15, and the material must therefore be stretched to a considerable extent. However, since this type of construction is to be used with material of a less expensive or somewhat flimsy nature, such materials will usually incorporate sufficient stretch to accommodate this restriction. In addition the core M being usually of some compressible material such as foam plastic, rubber or the like will be capable of being deformed to assist in the application of the cover.

Whereas the invention has been described specifically with reference to mattresses and pillows, it is also applicable to packaging various other articles. The invention has been described with reference to cloth coverings for mattresses but it will be understood it is applicable to coverings of various other flexible materials such as plastics and paper.

Reference has been made to stitching, but clearly this includes other joining methods such as gluing, welding and the like where appropriate.

The foregoing description of a preferred embodiment of the invention is given here by way of example only. It is not intended that the invention shall be restricted to any of the specific features described but comprehends all such variations as come within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. A removable cover for a three-dimensional generally rectangular article such as a mattress cushion or pillow of predetermined dimensions having top and bottom surfaces and side and end surfaces normal thereto and comprising;

a substantially rectangular hollow flexible open-ended envelope of substantially the same width and depth as the article intended to be covered thereby, but shorter than the length of said article and having upper and lower portions and side portions and one end portion shaped and fitted to corresponding surfaces of said rectangular article; and,

upper and lower pockets extending transversely of the open end of the envelope, the width of each said pocket being substantially the same as the width of the envelope, and the length of each said pocket plus the length of the envelope being substantially the length of the article intended to be covered thereby, said pockets being formed by endwise extensions of said upper and lower portions, each said pocket comprising a pocket end panel dimensioned to fit over the correspondig end surface of said article and a box corner panel shaped and dimensioned to fold around a portion of the adjacent top or bottom surface of said article, the edges of said pocket end panel being seamed partially to said upper and lower side portions, and partially to the edges of said box corner panel whereby one said pocket is rooted to said upper portion across the full extent of its width, and being rooted to respective side portions of said envelope over only about one-half of their width, and the other said pocket is rooted to said lower portion over the full extent of its width, and being rooted to said side portions of said envelope over only about one-half of their width,

said pocket end panels are formed and defined by cutting substantially rectangular shaped notches into the side edges of said endwise extensions of said upper and lower portions, said notches having a width substantially equal to the thickness of said rectangular article, and a depth substantially equal to approximately one-half thickness with suitable marginal allowances for seaming, and wherein said box corner panels are formed integrally with said endwise extensions, and having a width greater than said pocket end panels, to an extent to the depth of said notches, at either side thereof.

2. A removable cover as claimed in claim 1, wherein said envelope and said pockets are formed of cotton material, the said pockets being made separately from the envelopes and being sewn thereto along one side of the open end thereof.

3. A removable cover as claimed in claim 1, wherein said envelope and said pocket are formed of plastic sheet material heat-sealed to form the envelope with the pocket attached along one side of the open end thereof.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,162,868 12/1964 Cramer 5-339 3,317,933 5/1967 Meyer et al. 5335 FOREIGN PATENTS 19,256 8/ 1909 Great Britain 5339 202,407 10/1908 Germany 5339 PAUL R. GILLIAM, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 9 

